Not New but Still Painful

So, regardless of your faith you know that the first murder was of Abel commited by his brother Cain. I live in North Philadelphia and not much has changed. People killing their brothers at an alarming rate. This is not an ode to how much better I wish things could be. But a cry out at how angry I am that this feeling of grief is now a personal one for me and my family. My uncle was murdered. Im am in no way delusional enough to not understand that kharma is a bitch and the amount of people whose lives he has destroyed is insurmountable and essentially the man had it coming. But regardless of his transgressions, he was my Daddy's little brother and my uncle.



BY COREY ROBINSON Observer staff reporter robinsonc@jamaicaobserver.com

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

GUNMEN yesterday went on a murder spree in the Corporate Area and St Catherine, killing seven persons in an almost 15-hour span.

Five of the murders, including two double killings, occurred in the St Andrew North Police Division, pushing the murder tally in that area to 27 since the start of the year.


Carolyn Jenierre's mother (centre) is a picture of grief as she is comforted by her church sisters at her daughter's murder scene. (Photo: Michael Gordon)

Police, up until late yesterday, were only able to identify four of the dead. They are:

. Petrojam accountant Andre Jenniere, 45, and his wife, 39-year-old Carolyn - a lecturer at the University of Technology (UTech) School of Nursing;

. 63-year-old wholesale operator Elsie Armstrong; and

. gas station operator Sylvan McPherson, 38; ))

Among the dead was a security guard who the police alleged was the brother of dancehall artiste Desmond Ballentine, more popularly known as 'Ninjaman'.

In the first incident, which occurred at about 3:00 am, gunmen forced open a window to the Jennieres' home on Cypress Drive in Red Hills, St Andrew and sprayed them with bullets.

Police said that their blooded corpses were discovered shortly before dawn by their nine-year-old daughter, who, along with her younger brother, slept through their parents' murder in a separate room.

Yesterday, frightened neighbours, relatives and co-workers who gathered outside the Jennieres' home questioned the killers' motives.

"Why would someone want to hurt Carolyn. Carolyn would never hurt a fly," said a grieving Dr Sarafadeen Adebayo, head of the School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences at UTech. "She does not deserve this... Government will have to do something about this [crime] problem 'cause when you have professionals who are supposed to help in the development of the country being murdered, it spells destruction for our future."

In the Armstrong murder, police said that they were puzzled as to how her attackers gained access to her apartment at the newly-opened Isles of Grosvenor housing scheme on Grosvenor Terrace, also in St Andrew, and murdered her as well as the security guard.

Both were found with stab wounds in separate apartments at about 6:00 am, police said.

While the cops were processing that scene about 3:00 pm, gunshots rang out at the Total gas station near the foot of Red Hills. On their arrival at the scene, police found McPherson's bullet-riddled body. The police were told that men on a motorcycle drove up and shot McPherson. He died on the spot.

In the St Catherine North Police Division, police are probing the murders of two unidentified men whose bodies were found with gunshot wounds to the back of their heads in bushes at Featherbed Lane in Spanish Town early yesterday morning.




Rest In Peace Uncle Cory, forever and always.

Better than the Movies

**Based on true events that I just witnessed less than 20 minutes ago**

So I overslept today. Alarm completely doesn't work so I awoke at 10, mind you, my class is at 9 and over at 12 and I have an exam at 2. SOOOO the goal was to be up and out the door at 830. My biological clock is completely off because I slept till 2pm, worked till 12am and went back to sleep at 4am so i can completely understand my body giving me the ill fuck you and your plans of academic success, sleep on playa! (fmylife.com/Ihateoversleeping) ((not an actual site, I just love reading fmylife, so when anything goes wrong, thats what I say))

I Digress***

I get up after this late morning start fiasco and hightail it (where did that phrase even come from) to the tech center bus stop so I can catch the shuttle, no point in wasting a token if you're already late. In the spirit of being late I decide to get breakfast, take a sit down at the window and enjoy.

A nice young man, white guy with long hair, torn clothes and an edgy look, with a 5'oclock shadow and killer blue eyes sits next to me. We both commence our breakfast sandwich eating in silence when this big blob of a frat boy plops himself next to Stone (I think the dude looks like his name should be) He's says

Blob: Dude....didn't you go out with Lindsey?
Stone: Yea, ummm, im sorry...whats your name?
Blob: Yea, my name is "blob"
Stone: Yea man, we're not together.
Blob: Dude, what happened?

PAUSE

Now, lets just back track for a second. Stone and Blob aren't even friends. After asking Stone, when Blob left, Stone tells me that Blob is one of Lindsey's friends that she went to a dance with last year and that they met once. All this means is that they don't know each other from a can of paint. So he has no idea whether Stone was contemplating suicide at the loss of Lindsey, or if it was sore topic, or if he was on the phone with some other chick, (bc rude blob came up and started this convo while Stone was on the phone)

PRESS PLAY

Stone: (Being ultra sexy and polite) Just didn't work out man, we want different things. She's 19, I'm 24. No fault of either of ours, just didnt work. We're at different places
Blob: O

Its like Blob was all disappointed by his answer and shit. I dunno. It made for a way better morning show than my usual Saved By The Bell repeats, figured I would share.

Tokyo

I've only been here for a day and I'm done with it. Not to say that I'm not going to enjoy the rest of my time here by any means, but I honestly don't think I can feel any happier or anymore appreciative of the experience. I'm really thankful that my mother and high school instilled the value and importance of traveling to me. It is something I will forever be indebted to them for.